BILL WOULD GIVE SOME CENTRAL AMERICANS GREEN CARDS.

Byline: - Lisa Friedman

WASHINGTON - More than 200,000 Central Americans in Los Angeles and nationwide could receive green cards under a bill introduced Friday by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys.

The legislation would allow men and women who came from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras before Dec. 1, 1995, to apply for legal status. Many are in the U.S. illegally, while others are living under a temporary protection for foreigners whose homelands remain unsafe after wars or natural disasters.

``Their security is our security. Having people living in the shadows isn't in America's national interest,'' Berman said.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates more than 112,650 Guatemalans, 203,200 Salvadorans and 22,900 Hondurans live in Los Angeles County.

Supported by Reps. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, and Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood, the Central American Security Act has languished in Congress several times in the past.

But the lawmakers said they believe a looming free trade pact with Central America could breath new life and support into the bill.

They noted that U.S. remittances to Central America exceed $10 billion. In the case of El Salvador, U.S. remittances make up 17 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Still, the measure will likely face opposition from the Judiciary Committee, where Republican leaders favor tight restrictions on immigration.

``There is no good argument for giving people who sneak into our country citizenship ahead of those who have been following the rules and laws of the United States,'' Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, said in a statement.

Central American activists maintain that the 1997 Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, which allowed undocumented Nicaraguan and Cuban refugees to apply for permanent U.S. residency, left out Salvadoran, Honduran and Guatemalan refugees who fled civil wars in the 1980s.